Spin-polarized (001) surface states of the topological crystalline insulator Pb0.73Sn0.27Se

We study the nature of (001) surface states in Pb0.73Sn0.27Se in the newly discovered topological-crystalline-insulator (TCI) phase as well as the corresponding topologically trivial state above the band-gap-inversion temperature. Our calculations predict not only metallic surface states with a nontrivial chiral spin structure for the TCI case, but also nonmetallic (gapped) surface states with nonzero spin polarization when the system is a normal insulator. For both phases, angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy measurements provide conclusive evidence for the formation of these (001) surface states in Pb0.73Sn0.27Se, as well as for their chiral spin structure. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115106